Which Church is right for me?

Which Church is right for me?

by: Christ’s Own

Read the original post here at Christ-centered Life blog.

This is a question that, I am sure, we have heard many people ask, and even many of us have asked from time to time. I have come across various answers to this, many of which fail to deal with the issue effectively. So, then, what is the right answer? How can we ever know, and how can we help someone else who is looking for the answer?

Let me point out that there is a fundamental error in that question. It assumes that “church” is a building, a house, or a group of believers. This is the definition that we have given to the church today. So, ask the wrong questions and you will get the wrong answers. We know very well, from the scriptures (Acts 7:48-49), that the church is NOT a place or an organization. It never was. Not in the apostolic days, not in the first three centuries of its existence. It only took the form we have today in year 330 AD, when the Roman Emperor Constantine converted the pagan (idolatrous) temples into places of “Christian” worship, and told the Christians, “behold, here is where you ought to gather and worship”. Hence the expression “I am going to church”. Neither is the church a human organization. The Lord Jesus said, “I will build MY church…” (Matthew 16:18). He didn’t tell His disciples, “Go out to the whole world and build churches”, neither do we see any of the apostles “planting” any churches.

The church is the body of Christ; she is His bride, not limited by geography or business-like structure. Of course, there are many mentions of local churches in the New Testament, but those are just assemblies of believers in specific towns and cities. And that was only a phenomenon of the beginning; because we know from history what happened to those local assemblies. They were all broken up, the brethren who comprised them tortured and killed, and many of them dispersed to the ends of the earth. Did that stop the spread of the good news? To the contrary, that was the way to spread them, and to give the push for the disciples to “go to all the world and make disciples”. As long as they were gathered in one place, the kingdom of God was limited to that place. God knew that, and then He sent pagan rulers to persecute and scatter those assemblies, thus sending worldwide sparks that would ignite the fire of His kingdom to all the earth.  Read the entire article here at the author’s blog!